The full story...

US celebrates release of Islamist rebels American hostage in Syria

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Less than a week after the emergence of the horrific video showing the execution of American journalist James Foley in Syria, the US is celebrating the release of a separate American hostage.

For almost two years, Peter Theo Curtis has been a prisoner of Islamist rebels in Syria.

He was handed over to US officials near the disputed border of Israel and Syria late on Sunday.

Ben Knight is our North America correspondent and I spoke to him a short time ago.

Ben Knight, who is Peter Theo Curtis?

BEN KNIGHT: Well Michael there was quite a bit of confusion about that exact question when this story first broke, because Peter Theo Curtis in that video, he described himself as a journalist from Boston and no one could find any trace of a journalist called Peter Theo Curtis online or anything that he'd written. As the hours progressed it became clear that he in fact wrote under the name of Theo Padnos and then the light bulb went on.

Theo Padnos has been writing in the Middle East for some time. He's written for high profile publications; he was a fluent Arabic speaker and was learning other languages.

So, he was familiar with the region. What's still not known is what exactly he was doing late in 2012 when he last seen in the Turkish city of Antakya. It's understood that he had intended to cross into Syria through the border, which is quite nearby.

Clearly, he was picked up at some point - it's still not clear by who, but we understand that much of his captivity was spent with the Nusra Front. Now this is a group of Islamist rebels in Syria, it is not Islamic State they were in fact, affiliated with Islamic State at one point but it is not the same group that executed James Foley.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Was there a ransom paid or was there any transfer of anything to secure his release?

BEN KNIGHT: Well it's not known. The release was in fact negotiated we understand, by officials from Qatar.

Now, his family has released a statement saying obviously that they're over the moon, that they're so happy that he's going to be coming home and addressing that question of ransom and in fact what they said, what his mother Nancy Curtis said was well, the family is not privy to the exact terms that were negotiated, but the family was repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for his release on a humanitarian basis. Without the payment of money.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: And we know that there are at least four other US journalists being held by various groups in Syria, no other news on any of them I suppose at this point?

BEN KNIGHT: No but what we, I think are about to get is another insight into the kind of life that exists in captivity in Syria, at least for this group. And we already, in fact had a bit of a window into what the captivity of Peter Curtis was like, because he shared a cell with another American journalist who in fact escaped in July last year, his name was Matthew Schrier.

Now, Peter Curtis appeared in a video that was released just a few months ago. It was never made public. In fact, his whole captivity was never made public. But that has now emerged and in it he talks about how he was being well fed, well clothed he even had friends, everything was fine.

A very, very different story coming out from Matthew Schrier who shared a cell with him and managed to escape, about torture, starvation, even having his identity stolen online and finding that his bank accounts had been cleaned out - really, medieval conditions.

From the Archives

Around 500 Indigenous people fought in the First World War, and as many as 5,000 in the second. But many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers who made it home received little or no recognition for their contribution. On Anzac Day, 2007, the first parade to commemorate their efforts and bravery was held in Sydney. Listen to our report from that day by Lindy Kerin.